


I will be...

by ShadowSelene (Shadowdianne)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 11:45:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8247542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowdianne/pseuds/ShadowSelene
Summary: Prompt asked by swensicle via tumblr: They’re both at a party (They’ve never met before) and some annoying guy is flirting with regina. Emma sees how uncomfortable she  is and “saves her” (Victorian setting)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, this probably is set through the late victorian times. Not in a particular year but in the general last decades albeit in an au world… you will see why.

When Regina whispered her name to the servant she smirked slightly as she heard him gulp slowly before enunciating her title, her surnames -past and present- seeming to ricochet on the heavily decorated room in where different groups of people turned all at once, their whitening faces searching for the one of their host who downed his drink in one big gulp before facing her. If Regina had been a lesser woman she should have probably felt bad for the man whose rich tailcoat and hellfire vest glittered against the lighted room while he walked towards her, a heavy hand covered in rings quickly plucking a still filled glass of alcohol from an unsuspecting guest who quietly huffed to his wife, the woman in particular more interested on Regina than her husband. Which Regina found amusing in itself since she, certainly, wasn’t a lesser woman.

Raising a perfectly sculpted brow the brunette rose her chin haughtily as she eyed the man that, until less than a month ago,  had been the second most powerful man in the city, his railway empire not close enough for her husband’s or the one she had inherited from her father but close enough. Smiling sweetly yet coldly she clasped her hands in front of her body as demure as possible while taking a step inside the room, perfectly aware of how the dark colors of her clothes stood as a sore thumb on the pastel colors of the gathered ladies as well as the long earrings she had decided to wear, iridescent in color and grazing her neck every time she moved.

“Midas” She said, a tilt of her head enough to make the older man swallow nervously before drowning the robbed drink. “I see your little celebration is quite bigger than what I would have expected.”

The man seemed to gain confidence at what seemed to be a humble-filled comment and Regina found herself smirking inwardly, dark eyes studying the party and the sponsors that were gathered in the room, many of them still theoretically her own. Easy, far too easy.

“Well” Midas replied as he opened his arms broadly, certainly trying to impress her with the rich decorations the place hold. “Business has been thriving, it was the least thing I could do after closing one particular nasty deal.”

“I guess” Regina commented, her eyes narrowing slightly as she focused once again on the large man in front of her. “The northern burrow, am I right? Certainly a complicated deal, Leopold needed a few days before actually managing to get them to sign.”

The entire room seemed to collectively hold their breaths as a big drop of sweat fall down Midas’ forehead, the sleazy man trying but falling to keep his poker face as Regina gently beckoned a servant and took a glass for herself, barely managing to hide her disappointment at the bitter taste of not properly cooled champagne. “But you still have the right to celebrate” She finished as she left the glass again on the tray, the clinking sound echoing through the entire room as she smiled at the man for one more time. “Business is never easy, isn’t it?”

The calm words came out of her slightly more forcefully than she had intended but not enough for Midas to react and so the man nodded dumbly before looking around him, almost looking like a child expecting his mother to pick him up. Refraining her need to roll her eyes Regina waited until Midas nodded and muttered something that seemed to be a quick apology before he disappeared into the crowd, the halted guests slowly starting to talk between each other as soon as the confrontation seemed to have been finished for the time being.

Regina didn’t mingle between them; her visit had never intended to be about that after all and so she moved towards the table in which the punch was served, politely declining any other drink the servants offered her and never making any eye connection than the strictly necessary.

“Parties are all about power, Regina” Her mother had taught her when she had been nothing but a child with scrapped knees and endless dreams about horses and fresh air. “You must show up and look your best but never mingle with the common folk, make them think you know much more than you really do and always listen to the things they whisper while thinking they are not being heard.”

Mother had been many things. Regina had learnt that through the years, after she had seen Daniel being casted away and suitor after suitor turned down by her ever ruthless mother. But she had been intelligent and when she had married Regina to Leopold Blanchard, the paterfamilias of the other wealthiest family in the entire county with his railway empire behind him, she had seen how her mother’s machinations worked; time and power. It always was about time and power.

So she waited and learnt, her own wealth and empire being passed to her once her father passed away, the conjoined empire of Blanchard-Mills only growing in reputation as Leopold grew weaker and weaker. His death had come too early though, far too early for her to manage to secure her place in the company before Midas took over with his own empire. So there she was, in a poorly planned party with a host that eyed her with fear dancing on his eyes and being probably the soon-to-be news in the higher circles of the city’s society.

Biting briefly her bottom lip she clutched the ring on her left hand and mentally listed the ones that still looked at her as they tried to remain unseen; every name being linked to a surname and those mentally casted away as future past or potential sponsors. The list was longer than she would have expected and for that she took a sip of her drink, her jaw tightening when she felt the ghost of a hand caressing her lower back.

Turning, she found smirking blue eyes that looked at her predatorily as she was presented with the figure of a young man that quickly proceeded to salute her, his manners rude enough for her to quirk an eyebrow, annoyed.

“Victor Frankenstein at your service” The man proclaimed cockily as Regina remembered the murmurs and tales that had been floating around of the returned son of Alphonse Frankenstein, the general whose older boy had been found dead a few years ago back at the colonies. She hadn’t had the pleasure to known Gerhardt but Victor looked close enough to his father with sleazy eyes and demeanor she found herself repulsed for. “You’ve created quite the commotion with your arrival.”

His rough hands grabbed hers before she could move backwards and she growled quietly before prying them out of the man’s grip, the young man raising them in mockery before eyeing her, as if expecting something else from her that wasn’t silence.

“Midas hadn’t expected my appearance” She finally said coldly while eyeing the war doctor who chuckled before shrugging his shoulders, his obviously unkempt suit emanating a damp, putrid smell that made  her frown slightly.

“Then he is quite a fool, don’t you think?” Victor replied moving slightly closer to her, uncomfortably so. “Everyone in the city has been talking about this party… and about you, Regina Blanchard. Or is Mills now?”

Regina was about to say something equally scarring and unladylike to the rude man whose hand was once again close enough for her to feel his warmth when another female voice broke the bubble that seemed to have been set up around the two of them.

“Is there any problem here?”

Emma should have known better; she should have known better than actually trying to do a job in one of the richest houses of town in a night like that without a backup plan. That was what she thought as she stood in front of the couple-that and that she was an idiot with a savior complex like Ruby most of the times told her whenever she came back to their little shared house with bloodied knuckles and busted lips-, teeth worrying her bottom lip while she tried to not scratch the back of her neck where the dress she wore was starting to give her a rash. She should have certainly not come closer to an obvious powerful woman whose presence had been enough to reduce Midas to a blabbering idiot. -Albeit for what Emma had seen and heard that night the man himself wasn’t exactly a genius. - Still, her years on the streets had taught her enough to know when a woman was being harassed. And she would be dammed if she let that one go, even if she actually didn’t manage to sneak out the jewels she had been able to pick up from the Midas’ safe the moment the commotion about the new arrival had begun. Now that she had the commotion in question so close to her she could understand it though, her eyes unable to look away from the brunette’s dark ones as she tried to maintain her façade.

Victor, from his part, retreated his hand and politely smiled at who seemed to be another beautiful lady, the almost too-deep red ensemble she sported not certainly polite enough for the party but enough for him to focus on her figure. “Not at all, miss…”

“That was your cue if you had missed it.” Emma replied quickly while walking closer, refusing to answer the implicit question. Her accent thickened, letting her streets upbringing ebb enough through the cracks of her costume for her to want to close her eyes and curse as loud as the damned tight dress let her. She touched briefly the one single jewel that was in fact real in her entire fake dress and twisted it, dark white fog floating briefly between her curled fingers before it disappeared as soon as it had appeared, hopefully quick enough for no one at the party to see it. The woman, however, seemed to have noticed by her suddenly narrowed eyes and Emma knew that she didn’t really have enough time before another commotion actually started. Keeping her eye contact with the man she maintained the hex working until he nodded curtly and left, probably off to woo another lady or -considering Emma’s lack of luck tonight- to find the host and with him the police.

Turning towards the brunette woman Emma couldn’t help herself but smile lopsidedly at her before retreating, trying to find the quickest way to exit the mansion without being noticed, her time was up.

Regina let out a breath she had been unaware she had in fact been holding and eyed the retreating back of the red-dressed woman, blonde locks bundled haphazardly enough to make a good-enough impression of a better hairstyle but not enough to hold it after the initial suspicion.

Smirking slightly and leaving the posh and pretentious nobles behind she followed the other woman’s footsteps through a different halls she remembered having walked down the nights Leopold and herself had been invited to the mansion. However, the blonde’s strides directed her towards one slightly ajar window through which the woman in question was starting to descend from, red dress already on the break of ripping at her ankles.

“Wait.” She enunciated, her voice low yet strong. The blonde turned towards her and cursed loudly, her arms holding her entire weight as she shifted her body, probably mentally calculating how much magic she would need in order to halt Regina’s feet.  “I’ve seen what you have done” The brunette decided to say, concealing her curiosity as she eyed the obvious thief. “I doubt Mr. Frankenstein will be pleased once he managed to wake up from the glamour.”

Emma had certainly had enough and so she pursed her lips while she perched on the edge of the window once again. “So what? Are you going to tell them that an enchantress has been here? Not like they are going to believe you”

“No, probably not” Regina admitted. She herself shouldn’t be talking with the woman but she had already done her job with Midas and she was certainly intrigued by the apparent chivalry the other woman had displayed a few minutes ago. “But I can stop you and make you tell them about it yourself.”

The runes that glowed on the air as she finished her sentence should have been set Emma off but the blonde didn’t saw them until it was too late, purple tendrils closing around her briefly before she snarled angrily at the noblewoman. A fool had she been indeed. “What would they say if they knew you are between them?”

Regina hummed before letting the blonde go, her fingers trembling slightly as the hex disappeared, the ring on her hand winking at her as she did so. “They already know.”

“Liar.”

Regina’s eyes glowed furious “Don’t ever call me that.”

Emma shrugged, trying her muscles and eyeing the still open window, the scent of the brunette woman’s magic clinging into her. Heavy and rich she found herself curious for the noblewoman, one properly raised like one, not pretending to be one like herself.  “Relax, I won’t tell them, it’s not like we are going to see each other. Not if you let me go” She added in an afterthought, focusing once again on the brunette whose brown eyes seemed to glow and crack before they were covered by eyelids, the shine disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

“Go then” She commanded, eyes still closed.

When she opened them again the blonde was gone, the faintest trace of magic tinting the air around her.

Interesting.


End file.
